South Texas Backyard Oasis

[rrasco]

Days 6 and 7

Now that I was officially done digging, I think, I would need to bring in some dirt to finish building up berms and doing whatever else it is that I am doing. The bad part is I don't have a truck and I don't need enough dirt to make it worth having it delivered, so I moved bags of dirt in my car. It took me two trips, in which I made on separate days. I know it sounds crazy, but I make it work. It's not the first time either, unfortunately. Don't worry, I will probably have the rocks delivered. I moved all the blocks in my car as well.

Below is the berm all nice and tamped. I will be topping this with a darker soil once I get further along and know exactly what I'm doing for coping. I may use a formal cap or I may use limestone flagstone, leaning towards flagstone because I prefer the natural look. I also may need to add another layer of caps to this still, mostly towards the back to give it a little depth, and I'll be honest, it's not completely level front to back. I tried. I also tried to level it with mortar, which I did a decent job of but it's not perfect. The waterfall opening is lower than the back but that is subject to change depending on how I build the waterfall out.

The front of this wall I have two options I am deciding between, both of which I would be laying the liner as a single piece over the block:

1. Building a formal wall out of 4x4x12 limestone. You can see a piece of the limestone I would be using in several of my photos sitting on the ledge or off to the side. I have used this piece for edging around my house and would like to tie it into the pond design.
2. Building a natural waterfall and stack of rocks to cover the face of the wall. This would mesh well with the flagstone I am planning to use for coping.

 

[rrasco]

Doing a great job! Man I love watching someone else's pond build. Funny how looking at your dirt, I would guess it would have been super easy to dig .... but it's very deceiving, most of the time.

Thanks!

It was, but I think as it dried out, to which I more than likely contributed by supplying more sunlight, it got harder to dig. I also hit a lot more roots and was digging more sideways since I was not going very deep.

I'm slightly concerned about the main pond because it was saturated and now getting sun baked, causing it to crack. It doesn't seem as cohesive. I'm thinking about wetting it a little a day or two before I lay the liner.

 

[MitchM]

You're doing a great job!

 

[michey1st]

It's looking GREAT! I too looked at your dirt and thought "man, that stuff looks DIVINE!". LOL!

 

[rrasco]

Days 8 and 9

I decided it was best to add another layer of caps since I did a horrible job leveling the blocks for the bog. I was worried I would lose water over the back side instead of the spillway, so that's no longer a concern. This should conclude all the mortar work (thank god--I do not like mixing mortar).

I also picked up the stones I plan to use for the coping base. I want to use these to set on the liner, then fold the liner back over and place the coping stones on top. I plan to use limestone flagstone on top of these. Does this look like a good plan?

 

[CountryEscape]

Makes sense to me! You will have a pretty face of the rock facing the water, too, instead of the liner. I think it's a great idea. Make sure you have your coping base rocks level, though. I am NOT a leveling expert, but got better on my second pond. I filled the water in mostly, then used the top of the water to measure the top edge.

 

[rrasco]

You will have a pretty face of the rock facing the water, too, instead of the liner.

That's the idea. Since I had that rain a few weeks ago I know exactly where I need to bring the edges up, but it was fairly level as-is so I shouldn't have much trouble. I can't completely build up the edge until the liner is in though. I'll be going on vacation Saturday so work will idle for a week or so, but once I get back I plan to get the liner and all the rock down so we will be rockin!

 

[rrasco]

Days 10 and 11

Once I was back in town I got back to work on the build. I'm really eager to get this thing filled but my prior aquatic experiences have taught me to take my time, so, 1 step at a time. I was trying to get people lined up to help me get the liner in, but that wasn't working out so I decide to just try getting it down myself which actually was too hard. It does turn out that I in fact am horrible at getting creases out of the liner but that may have more to do with the shape of the pond as opposed to me. At least that's what I'm telling myself.

On Saturday I was able to get the underlayment and liner laid. Then I started playing around with rock ideas and how I was going to build up the separator between the bog/pond and the edging. One I figured out all my edging I started mortaring everything into place. I like what I'm seeing so I've gotten even more eagar to get this baby finished.

Heavy Pic Alert Incoming:

Nobody mentioned how tough this underlayment is to actually cut.

Before I put the liner in, I needed to fit my skimmer in and make sure everything was level, at the right depth, etc.

Then I worked on unrolling the liner. Yes, I did this by myself. It wasn't easy, but where's the funny in something being easy. Work smarter, not harder.

Used some stones and even filled the deepest section to keep things in place.

I knew I bought one a bit larger to make sure I didn't have any shortcomings, but dang, I might have enough liner left to make another small pond on the patio. Then I can make that overflow into the main pond and.....wait a second, let's finish this one before we start planning another one. That's how this works right?

I filled a few inches of the bog as well so I can make sure I don't have any issues once I mortared up the retaining wall, because that wouldn't be very fun. I then worked on getting the liner attached to the skimmer, which actually turned out to be very easy, just a little messy. Not the first time I've gotten silicone all over me anyways.

I left a fold below the skimmer body per recommendations I've read. That made it a little hard to get the liner to play nice around the edges. Nothing I don't think I can work out later.

Starting to take shape. Exciting.

This is retaining wall and edging stones I picked up. Not too expensive either. I just hope it's enough. Yes, I moved all of this in my Accord.

Per a previous post and illustration, I planned to use the pavers as the coping stones and fold the liner back over then back fill and top with my edging stones. The hardest part was getting the pavers level and level with where the water line needed to be for the skimmer. At this point I had the retaining wall stacked loose to see what it would look like, along with the waterfall stones.

Had to call it quits at dusk, but I made good progress and can start to see what the final build will look like.

After playing around with the edging a bit the next day, I settled on a final layout and started mortaring it all together. I pulled the flagstone up, rolled the liner back and mortared the pavers together, then folded the liner back over and put mortar on top of the pavers and liner, finally setting the flagstone on top and filling in all around to have a solid footing. I will be able to backfill with soil and it should cover the mortar so you only see soil and stone.

Then I went back and began mortaring the wall. Piece by piece the retaining wall built up some strength and I ended the day with setting the waterfall stone in place and that's where it sits today.

This week I spent collecting all the PVC and fitting to plumb the pump to the bog. I am using black flex pvc as I much prefer that over rigid. It's not cheap, but I've used it on my aquariums and it is so much more flexible, literally and not, than rigid. Tonight I hope to begin building the bog manifold and plumbing it all together, after which I will finish the edging around the top of the bog. I also hope to get some pea gravel and fill the bog up.

I do have a question regarding this. I'm not sure what steps I should take next. Should I build the bog manifold and fill the pond to test flow? Should I add pea gravel before filling? What if there is a flow issue? Not really sure how to do this logistically as I don't want to fill the bog and have a flow issue, but if I fill the bog with water and test flow I will have to display about 150G of water when I shovel in the pea gravel. Thoughts?

 

[rrasco]

Bonus

As I was cleaning up after the work on Sunday, I noticed something moving. These guys must have seen the construction signs and come to check it out. I'm not ready yet little guys, but come back soon! In fact, before I laid the underlayment I had to get one of these little guys out, he was chilling in the deepest section of the main pond. They know what's up.

 

[addy1]

Looking great! The frogs seem to sense a good life is coming.

 

[sissy]

Build a pond and frogs become a nightmare at least in my case toads and frogs ,

 

[rrasco]

Why's that sissy? Too many?

 

[MitchM]

...
I do have a question regarding this. I'm not sure what steps I should take next. Should I build the bog manifold and fill the pond to test flow? Should I add pea gravel before filling? What if there is a flow issue? Not really sure how to do this logistically as I don't want to fill the bog and have a flow issue, but if I fill the bog with water and test flow I will have to display about 150G of water when I shovel in the pea gravel. Thoughts?

I would put the pea gravel in before filling, if only to reduce the cloudiness after the system gets running.
I would have filled the pond before doing the mortar work with the flagstone though.
You'll have to watch for any tightness in the liner as the pond fills now.
Looking good otherwise.

 

[rrasco]

I would put the pea gravel in before filling, if only to reduce the cloudiness after the system gets running.
I would have filled the pond before doing the mortar work with the flagstone though.
You'll have to watch for any tightness in the liner as the pond fills now.
Looking good otherwise.

Thanks. I thought about it, but I needed to some mortar work on the inner side which having water would have made difficult. I left a lot of slack in the liner, so I think I should be okay.

 

[rrasco]

Day 12

I didn't get to work on it as much as I wanted this weekend, had to work unfortunately, but I was able to get the bog manifold built, the pump plumbed in and some mortar work around the edging and the spillway/retaining wall for the bog. I need to someone to pick up a yard of pea gravel for me at which point I'll finish the edging on the bog. Then I just need to figure out how to get electricity closer to the pond and I'm ready!

Any suggestions for power?